Hello, I am Congresswoman Corrine Brown. I have served in the House of Representatives for over 12 years, and am a proud member of the Veterans Affairs committee. Right now, our troops are involved in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our young men and women have suffered through many horrific events. However, our soldiers are not getting the care they need and deserve.

I am reminded of the words of the first president of the United States, George Washington, who said:

"the willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country."

Now, many people talk about protecting veterans and making sure they have the support they need while protecting this country’s freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. But I can truly tell you that the republicans talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk with our veterans.

At the same time, the republicans passed a budget that calls for $800 million in cuts to the VA over the next five years.

Clearly, those in the leadership of the people’s house are attempting to balance the budget on the backs of veteran’s health care.

Let me go through a few programs that are being cut which greatly impact our nation:

• Veterans health care
• Allowing all veterans, not just disabled and indigent veterans, access to health care
• Sufficient funding for building and new facilities for care.
• mental health services and long-term care as a part of the full continuum of care for veterans
• More funding to eliminate the backlog of claims, rather than continually cutting staff and support personnel needs to be a priority.
• The Seamless transition from military to civilian life needs to be a priority.

And what’s more, many of our service members – especially, the National Guard and reserve forces, could face terrible financial problems because they do not qualify for debt protection while on duty when the bankruptcy bill becomes law.

Since 9/11, nearly half a million reservists and guardsmen have been called to active duty: some more than once. Hundreds of thousands of reservists and national guardsmen are currently activated in support of ongoing military operations. According to the National Guard, four out of 10 members of the National Guard and reserve forces lose income when they leave their civilian jobs for active duty.

I ask all of you listening out there to please call your local member of congress and both of your senator’s offices and urge them to support our veterans, not just in nice words, but by increasing funding for VA programs!